SESSION 2. DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO WORK INDEPENDENTLY
Work Independently:
Work independently means one must learn to take ownership of the task assigned and leave no stone unturned in accomplishing the task.
Self-Reliance:
The individual, who has the ability to work independently called Self-Reliance.
Importance of The Ability to Work Independently / Benefits of the Ability to Work Independently
Following benefits of working independently advocate its importance.
- Ensures greater learning.
- Individuals feel more empowered and responsible.
- It provides flexibility to choose and define working hours and working mechanisms.
- Failure and success of the task assigned are accounted by individuals.
- Individuals become assets to organizations, groups and nations at large.
- It ensures creativity and satisfaction amongst individuals.
Self-Awareness:
Having conscious knowledge of your own self, capabilities, feelings and one’s own character is called as self-awareness.
- It helps individuals to chart their ways for working independently.
- They become aware of their strengths and weak points and work accordingly.
- They try to focus on strengths to become successful in various arenas of life.
Self-awareness will help you in converting your weakness into strength and strengths into an exceptional talent.
Knowing Yourself:
Understanding who you are, what you like or dislike, what are your beliefs, what are your opinions, what is your background, what you do well and what you do not do well is important because only then can you measure your strengths and weaknesses.
In other words, being self-aware actually means knowing your inner strengths, hidden talents, skills and even weaknesses.
Q. How we define strengths and weaknesses?
Difference between Interests and Abilities (Strengths):
| Interest | Abilities |
| Things that you like to do in your free time that make you happy. | An acquired or natural capacity |
| Things you are curious about or would do even if no one asked you to do it. | Enable you to perform a particular job or task with considerable proficiency. |
| Things you want to learn or would like to do in the future. |
Types of Self-Awareness:
There are two types of self-awareness: private and public.
- Private self-awareness is when people are aware of something about themselves that others might not be — like being anxious about reading out loud.
- Public self-awareness is when people are aware of how others see them.
Self-Motivation
Self-motivated individuals have an inner urge to do something, achieve their goals without any external pressure/lure for award or appreciation.
- It is a life skill and must be necessarily developed.
- Self-motivation is what pushes us to achieve our goals, feel happy and improve our quality of life.
- It is our ability to do the things that need to be done without someone or something influencing us.
Types of Motivation
- Internal Motivation: LOVE
We do things because they make us happy, healthy and feel good. For example, when you perform on your annual day function and you learn something new, such as dancing, singing, etc., you feel good.
- External Motivation: REWARD
We do things because they give us respect, recognition, and appreciation. For example, Suresh participated in a 100m race and won a prize. This motivated him to go for practice every morning.
Qualities of Self-motivated People
- Know what they want from life.
- Are focused.
- Know what is important.
- Are dedicated to fulfill their dreams.
Building Self-motivation
There are four steps for building self-motivation, which are as given below.
- Find out your strengths.
- Set and focus on your goals.
- Develop a plan to achieve your goals.
- Stay loyal to your goals.
Self-Regulation
Self-regulation guides independent individuals as it helps them consider long term consequences rather than just transient feelings.
- It leads to a responsible and a value driven behaviour.
- It teaches self – control and well directed efforts to reach goal.
- Self – regulation inculcates discipline that helps in consistent efforts to move towards goal.
Goals: They are a set of dreams with a deadline to get them, for example, saving pocket money to buy a favourite mobile phone by a particular date.
- Goals allow you to separate out what’s important.
- It helps you to focus on the end result instead of less important work. This will make you successful in your career and personal life.
Goal setting: It is all about finding and listing your goals and then planning on how to achieve them.
A SMART method to set goals:
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound.
- Specific: A specific goal gives the proper direction.
- Measurable: Goal must be measurable.
- Achievable: Breaking down big goals into smaller parts will make the goal achievable
- Realistic: A realistic goal would be something that we want to achieve and can work towards.
- Time bound: A SMART goal should have a timeframe by when the goal needs to be achieved.
